SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
India and Pakistan have agreed to a ceasefire, President Trump announced this morning. This is after two countries exchanged strikes for days at an intensity not seen since 1971 when they went to war. NPR's Diaa Hadid has been following these events from her base in Mumbai. She covers both countries from there. Diaa, thanks so much for being with us.
DIAA HADID, BYLINE: You're welcome, Scott. Hello.
SIMON: What's happened?
SIMON: Well, President Trump had announced on his social media network that the two countries had agreed to a full and immediate ceasefire, and then India's foreign secretary, Vikram Misri, made a short announcement. And he said Pakistan's director of military operations had called his Indian counterpart, and they agreed to this.
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VIKRAM MISRI: It was agreed between them that both sides would stop all fighting and military action on land and in the air and sea with effect from 1700 hours Indian Standard Time today.
SIMON: Now, this seems pretty remarkable because you and your team just hours ago reported that Pakistan had announced a new military operation against India.
HADID: That's right. Things felt very different a few hours ago. India had struck air bases in Pakistan, including one right near the capital Islamabad, and Pakistan began a military operation called Iron Wall, and soldiers were filming themselves firing projectiles into India.
SIMON: We want to hear what brought this together so quickly, but also if you could remind us how this conflict began.
HADID: Yeah. This began on April 22, so not so long ago. That's when gunmen opened fire on tourists in a meadow in Indian-held Kashmir, and they killed 26 people. India said the group that claimed responsibility was a proxy linked to Pakistan's army. Pakistan denied any connection but said it would defend itself. And then overnight Wednesday, India began military strikes, and the two countries had been exchanging fire every night since. And about 70 people have been killed on both sides, and most of the casualties were in Kashmir. That's the territory divided between India and Pakistan. It's claimed by both and has been fought over repeatedly by both.
SIMON: How did the ceasefire come about?
HADID: You know, it's so interesting, Scott, because for days analysts were saying that the Americans were not being serious. The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, they said, was just making phone calls, and then Vice President JD Vance went on Fox on Thursday saying they wanted a de-escalation, but...
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VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE: But we're not going to get involved in the middle of a war that's fundamentally none of our business and has nothing to do with America's ability to control it.
HADID: But you know, then I spoke to Abdullah Khan. He's with the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, and he told me America was waiting.
ABDULLAH KHAN: And ultimately, when they felt that the situation is escalating and the Americans intervened directly as well as through their Arab allies, and then eventually they convinced both the parties to de-escalate and for a ceasefire.
SIMON: Do you have a sense of why they agreed to a ceasefire?
HADID: Yeah. Khan tells me that Pakistan was waiting for a moment that it could sell to its people that, you know, they had showed India that would allow them to save face and step down, and India's trying to attract manufacturing from companies that are leaving China because of Trump's tariffs. It's not a time for war.
SIMON: NPR's Diaa Hadid in Mumbai. Thanks so much for being with us.
HADID: You're welcome, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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